Jorge Masvidal talks UFC 287 in his hometown Miami, attending UFC 47 in Miami, ATT, boxing, AEW

“Gamebred” Jorge Masvidal of American Top Team will fight Gilbert Burns of Kill Cliff FC in the co-main event of UFC 287 on Saturday, April 8 at Miami-Dade Arena, home of the NBA Miami Heat. That’s an off day for the Heat. Maybe Bam Adebayo, Jimmy Butler, Shaq, Zo, UD, D-Wade will be there, supporting the hometown fighter. This marks the first UFC event in Miami since 2003. The reason is because a very sparse crowd attended UFC 47 in 2003 in Miami. That standout card featured Matt Hughes, Sean Sherk, Rich Franklin and Robbie Lawler. UFC president Dana White vowed not to return. With that crowd for that event, who could blame him.?

One of the good Miami things to emerge from that event was Masvidal. A then well-known South Florida street fighter, Masvidal was one of the few in attendance. UFC 47 helped inspire him to become an MMA fighter. With his MMA journey and the emergence of American Top Team (via Dan Lambert and Marcus “Conan” Silveira), MMA grew in South Florida, leading to UFC’s Miami return on April 8. Here is my video interview with “Gamebred” Jorge Masvidal of ATT.

One of the good Miami things to emerge from that event was Masvidal. A then well-known South Florida street fighter, Masvidal was one of the few in attendance. UFC 47 helped inspire him to become an MMA fighter. With his MMA journey and the emergence of American Top Team (via Dan Lambert and Marcus “Conan” Silveira), MMA grew in South Florida, leading to UFC’s Miami return on April 8.

Masvidal is a champion fighter, a proud Miami/South Floridian, an ATT pillar/staple and one of the baddest fighters on the planet. He will be ready to fight in the 305. Also at UFC 287, a UFC middleweight championship rematch headlines with current champ Alex Pereira facing former champion Israel Adesanya. Masvidal vs. Burns in the co-main brings an added dimension with Masvidal from ATT in (South Florida) Coconut Creek and Burns from nearby Kill Cliff FC in Deerfield Beach. Speaking of ATT, Santiago Ponzinibbio is on the main card, too, fighting Kevin Holland in another welterweight contest.

UFC did conduct UFC Fight Night Jacare vs. Hermansson (who replaced Miami’s Yoel Romero) in 2019 in South Florida at the BB&T Center (now FLA Live Arena) in Sunrise/Fort Lauderdale. With a main event replacement and no title fights, it drew well, rejuvenating interest from UFC President Dana White for more fights in South Florida.

MASVIDAL THE PROMOTER

Masvidal is also a businessman, he and his team running MMA shows and now boxing with a spectacular event (Jorge Masvidal’s Gamebred Boxing) on Saturday, April 1 at the Fiserv Forum in Milwaukee. No fooling, this boxing battle of fighters includes Jose Aldo, Vitor Belfort, Ronaldo Jacare Souza, Jeremy Stephens and boxing great Roy Jones Jr., who will box Anthony Pettis.

MASVIDAL AND AEW

When the boxing and MMA are done in early April, Masvidal may be attending a pro wrestling show, AEW Dynamite and AEW Rampage on Wednesday, April 26 at FLA Live Arena in Sunrise/Fort Lauderdale. Masvidal is not only a fan of AEW but got involved in an AEW match in 2021 in Miami, featuring ATT teammates Junior Dos Santos and Andrei Arlovski and The Men of the Year Scorpio Sky and Ethan Page and ATT founder Dan Lambert (with ATT’s Paige Van Zant, Austin Vanderford and Dalton Rosta ringside and Masvidal in their corner) against The Inner Circle (Sammy Guevara, Santana, Ortiz, Jake Hager and Chris Jericho,). At a prior AEW show in New York to help build the feud and again during the match in Miami, Masvidal knocked out Jericho with a flying knee, leading to victory.

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This story was originally published March 8, 2023, 12:00 PM. JIM VARSALLONE 305-376-3621 Jim Varsallone covers pro wrestling, something he’s done since his college days in the late 1980s. Now in his fifth decade of coverage, he currently follows WWE (Raw, SmackDown and NXT), AEW, Ring of Honor, Impact Wrestling, MLW, WOW, NWA, and the South Florida indies. He also writes MMA — mostly profile stories and video interviews with American Top Team and Sanford MMA fighters in South Florida. As for pro wrestling, he writes feature stories and profile pieces, updates upcoming show schedules in South Florida, photographs the action and interviews talent (audio and video) — sharing the content here and via social media on his Facebook, Twitter and YouTube channel: jim varsallone (jimmyv3 channel).

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